June 17, 18, 19 2016.
I’m calling this The Best of Both Worlds mini tour.  American Airlines flight 1950 to Charlotte then a quick connect to Tri Cities Airport in Tennessee, 18 miles from THUNDER VALLEY!  Best part … I’m with my 15 year old Grandson, Ricky.  This is not Ricky’s first drag racing experience.  He spent a day with us at the Mile High Nationals in Colorado last summer.  He’s in for a real treat.  On a scale of one to 10, 1 being the best, Thunder Valley is #1 and Mile High is #10.   Next weekend we’ll be at Summitt Motor Speedway in Norwalk, Ohio, which is my #2 favorite track.  Watch out Mom and Dad,  Ricky may be asking for a Top Fueler for Christmas!

David and ET drove down in the RV.  They arrived at Earhardt East Campground, at Bristol Motor Speedway ($150, full hook up, for the event) on Wednesday.  They left CT at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday and arrived at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.  David was a driving machine. 

      They spent the night at a Walmart that I’m going to forget that David even told me about.  In my opinion, Walmart overnights are at the bottom of the barrel.  They are one step up from a truck stop.  I am saying this from experience.  When we first started RVing I gave them both a try.  After staying at cream of the crop, State and National Parks and RV Resorts,  I’m NOT camping at a Walmart or Truck Stop unless it’s a last “resort”.

Ricky and I flew because, we could not miss his sister, Megan’s (Grand Graduate #1)  High School graduation.  You’d think Megan would be the one coming, but she chose going to the Florida Keys with us this past winter.  Sunshine and tropical fun vs Nitro and Noise, hmmmmm Both work for me!   I was a little worried that 15 year old Ricky would get bored during three days and over 20 hours of watching drags.  I was wrong to worry.  His favorite part was the eliminations.  He sat in the stands with my clipboard and bracket sheets keeping score.  Note to his Mom and Dad: There’s lots of Math involved in scoring and he’s having fun doing it 🙂

I have previous posts and photos,  to Bristol,  in the archives.  I will mention again, Steele Creek Park.  This is a beautiful park, eight miles from the track.  E T enjoyed her daily walks here and frolics in the creek.

My new Bristol find is the Red Rooster Market.  On the way home from the park one day with Ricky and E T we needed to stop for milk.  I spotted a sign for the Red Rooster Market.  Awesome!  I did not want to travel a couple of miles out of way to the only other place I knew to get milk, Food City.  Ricky waited in the car with E T while I ran in for MIlK.  Twenty minutes later I get back in the car with NO milk, but a huge bag of “goodies”.  The Red Rooster is not a Market, it is a Mom, Pop and Son run restaurant.   I won’t go into the details, but POP told me the entire history of the name and why it’s called a market and not a restaurant.  I also know the Son’s favorite race car drivers, where the family lives and their weekend plans.  Mom was no where to be seen. She is the cook.  My bag of “goodies” was a mix of homemade pot pies and sides.  A little pricy, but Mom is a very good cook!

This slideshow is especially for my friend Sylvia, that used to race at Lebanon Valley.  The cars are driven by my favorite drivers in all four classes.  It’s hard for me to have just one favorite in any one class.  There are just to many fabulous teams and drivers in the NHRA drag racing series to just pick one.

Pro Mod – Ricky Smith and Troy Coughlin

Pro Stock – Jason Line and Greg Anderson

Funny Car – Courtney Force and Tim Wilkerson

Top Fuel – Clay Millican and Richie Crampton

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